Iowa Farmers Cultivate Hope and Help Through Gifts of Grain and Produce

By Kristine Frakes,
DMARC Development Director

This is a season when emerald fields of soybeans and corn blanket the rural Iowa landscape as far as the eye can see.

It is also a time of high need for food assistance across central Iowa communities. Family budgets are stretched with summer child care costs and back-to-school clothing and supply demands. Yearly help for energy assistance has long since expired. Many health-impaired seniors will soon approach the “donut-hole” period of the year for medical care assistance, and struggle with the burden of added out-of-pocket healthcare costs.

While Iowa farmers are well-known for feeding the world, many are coming to recognize hunger and lack of access to food as local issues that affect their neighbors and communities.

In response, these industrious keepers of the land are stepping up and making their mark on the local food system by donating a portion of their yearly harvest to DMARC. A farmer can direct a portion of his/her harvest (i.e., a truck load of grain or the yield from an acre of land), to DMARC through a local grain buyer. The crop donation is then sold and converted to cash that is used to buy food items distributed through the Food Pantry Network.

DMARC extends sincere gratitude to farm operators and gardeners who have donated gifts of grain and fresh produce. These donations help DMARC provide nutritionally sound and locally sourced foods that increase the stability of the food system across our community and state.

Download this form for giving a Gift of Grain. To learn more about providing a Gift of Grain or other gifting options, contact Development Director Kristine Frakes, kfrakes@dmreligious.org or 515-277-6969, ext. 13.

To coordinate large donations of fresh produce, contact Food Pantry Network Director Rebecca Whitlow, rwhitlow@dmreligious.org, 515-282-2026 or 515-277-6969, ext. 14.